the royalties in this way since at first most of them were unaware (as were the rest of the German people) of the extent of Hitler’s evil plans and, following the total humiliation and bankrupting of their country in 1918-1919, they saw any form of strong leadership as a means of restoring order and national pride. I came across an extremely illuminating article, however, which not only states Kaiser Wilhelm’s attitude towards Hitler but also demonstrates what I am sure was always his intention – even before the First World War – to create a cultured and peaceful nation. This article is an interview with the Kaiser in 1938, during his exile in Holland and I think it wipes away many of the myths of the man as a sabre-rattling war-monger.
This is what he says of Hitler:
“There is a man alone, without family, without children, without God....He builds legions but he doesn’t build a nation. A nation is created by families, a religion, tradition: it is made up out of the hearts of mothers, the wisdom of fathers, the joy and the exuberance of children. [Of Germany under Hitler he says]....an all-swallowing State, disdainful of human dignities and the ancient structure of our race, sets itself up in place of everything else. And the man who, alone, incorporates in himself this whole State, has neither a God to honour nor a dynasty to conserve, nor a past to consult....
For a few months I was inclined to believe in National Socialism. I thought of it as a necessary fever. And I was gratified to see that there were, associated with it for a time, some of the wisest and most outstanding Germans. But these, one by one, he has got rid of or even killed....He has left nothing but a bunch of shirted gangsters....
This man could bring home victories to our people each year without bringing them...glory....But of our Germany, which was a nation of poets and musicians and artists and soldiers, he has made a nation of hysterics and hermits, engulfed in a mob and led by a thousand liars or fanatics....”
Interview with the Kaiser
It is often said that Kaiser Wilhelm was not very astute. Considering that he gave this interview in 1938 only a couple of months after Neville Chamberlain signed the Munich agreement with Hitler, it is clear that he had a far clearer understanding of what was forthcoming than many of his contemporaries did.
17 comments:
Very interesting! I never knew of this side of the Kaiser.
Thank you, Matterhorn. I always have had a strong sense that the Kaiser has been greatly misrepresented and coming across something like this that shows him in a truer light is very illuminating to me.
Thank you for posting this interview with the Kaiser. It's amazing to read his own words about the situation. If this doesn't clarify his views, I don't know what will....
Im kaiser william great great great great grandson been proven and have proof i wonder if people would think i was important there today?!?!
My fellow anonymous, that sounds like a lot of "greats", considering Wilhelm only died in 1941!
Actually, the Kaiser can have descendants as far as great-great grandchildren. His most famous great-great grandchild is Prince Georg Friedrich of Prussia, who is the current head of the House of Hohenzollern and the pretender to the defunct Imperial and Royal thrones of Germany and Prussia.
Can you please give us a reference for the interview and its source? Thank you.
It was published on 8th December 1938 in the
Geraldton Guardian and Express
His grandson, Prince Louis Ferdinand was a famous anti-Nazi who was a member of the German resistance as well as being aware of the July plot. He was also a friend of Roosevelt.
An interesting article along with some interesting comments.Enjoyed reading all. Thanks for posting.
Thank you, Paul.
So your a Prince of my country!!!as a German monarchist I salute you!
But one more thing....you better not be lieing
Not confirming or denying the ancestry, just stating that my 88 year old mother has great,great grandchildren and I would say if she were to live another 76 years (in relation to the Kaiser death) that she would easily have great great great great great grandchildren.
Some years ago I was talking to Allan B. Calhamer, the inventor of the game Diplomacy, and he was telling me about his time as a student of Sidney B. Fay, the author of ORIGINS OF THE WORLD WAR (in 1928) which Fay revised a year later after a long one-on-one interview with the former Kaiser. Fay told the story of the interview (he was then a graduate student himself) to his students, including Calhamer. Among the points he made, as Calhamer recounted them to me: 1) The Kaiser was always willing to talk to a "friendly" foreign press to promote sales of his Memoirs. 2) The Kaiser's memory was good but selective and very egocentric. 3) The Kaiser seemed much more interested in and aware of events in American baseball than he was in current German politics. Who would have known the Kaiser was a White Soxs fan? Perhaps most interesting, he absolutely hated living in Holland --- a strange reaction toward the country who took him in when nobody else would. FYI, a few years ago the German Government, for political reasons, refused a Dutch request to take the Kaiser's body back to Germany for reburial. Today the Germans are paying $250K a year to keep him interred in his little tomb behind his big house in Doorn.
Thanks, Larry! That's very interesting. When he first arrived in Holland, he was treated very badly, as crowds turned out to jeer at him and he had to be virtually imprisoned, partly for his own protection. Perhaps that is part of the reason why he did not wish to remain there, particularly when he had spent the greater part of his life being so proud of his homeland.
You're all welcome. The interview originally appeared on OldMagazineArticles.com
I believe he may accidentally refer to Kaiser Wilhelm I, not the 2nd
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